EDPB News

2018

Brussels, 5 December - On December 4th and 5th, the European Data Protection Authorities, assembled in the European Data Protection Board, met for their fifth plenary session. During the plenary a wide range of topics were discussed.

EU-Japan draft adequacy decision
The Board Members adopted an opinion on the EU-Japan draft adequacy decision, which the Board received from the European Commission in September 2018. The EDPB made its assessment on the basis of the documentation made available by the European Commission. The EDPB’s key objective was to assess whether the Commission has ensured sufficient guarantees are in place for an adequate level of data protection for individuals in the Japanese framework. It is important to recognise that the EDPB does not expect the Japanese legal framework to replicate European data protection law. The EDPB welcomes the efforts made by the European Commission and the Japanese PPC to increase convergence between the Japanese legal framework and the European one. The improvements brought in by the Supplementary Rules to bridge some of the differences between the two frameworks are very important and well received. However, following a careful analysis of the Commission’s draft adequacy decision as well as of the Japanese data protection framework, the EDPB notices that a number of concerns remain, such as the protection of personal data, transferred from the EU to Japan, throughout their whole life cycle. The EDPB recommends the European Commission to also address the requests for clarification made by the EDPB, to provide further evidence and explanations regarding the issues raised and to closely monitor the effective application.

The EDPB considers that the EU-Japan adequacy decision is of paramount importance. As the first adequacy decision since the entering into application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it will set a precedent.

DPIA lists
The EDPB adopted opinions on the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) lists, submitted to the Board by Denmark, Croatia, Luxembourg and Slovenia. These lists form an important tool for the consistent application of the GDPR across the EEA. DPIA is a process to help identify and mitigate data protection risks that could affect the rights and freedoms of individuals. While in general the data controller needs to assess if a DPIA is required before engaging in the processing activity, national supervisory authorities shall establish and make a list of the kind of processing operations which are subject to the requirement for a data protection impact assessment. These four opinions follow the 22 opinions adopted during the September plenary, and will further contribute to establishing common criteria for DPIA lists across the EEA. The EDPB Chair, Andrea Jelinek said: “This process has been an excellent opportunity for the EDPB to test the possibilities and challenges of consistency in practice. The GDPR does not require full harmonisation or an 'EU list', but requires more consistency, which we have achieved in all of these opinions by agreeing on a common view.”

Guidelines on accreditation
The EDPB has adopted a revised version of the WP29 guidelines on accreditation, including a new annex. The draft guidelines were originally adopted by the WP29 and submitted for public consultation. The EDPB finalised the analysis and reached a conclusion on the final version. The aim of the guidelines is to provide guidance on how to interpret and implement the provisions of Article 43 of the GDPR. In particular, they aim to help Member States, supervisory authorities and national accreditation bodies establish a consistent and harmonised baseline for the accreditation of certification bodies that issue certification in accordance with the GDPR. The guidelines have now been completed by an annex providing guidance on the additional requirements for the accreditation of certification bodies to be established by the supervisory authorities. This annex will be subject to public consultation.

Brussels, 19 July – An important innovation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new way in which the supervisory authorities of the Member States closely cooperate to ensure a consistent application as well as a consistent protection of individuals throughout the EU.

During its second plenary meeting on 4 and 5 July the EDPB discussed the consistency and the cooperation systems, sharing first experiences on the functioning of the One-Stop Shop mechanism, the performance of the Internal Market Information System (IMI), the challenges the authorities are facing and the type of questions received since 25 May. Most data protection authorities reported a substantial increase in complaints received. The first cross-border cases were initiated in IMI on 25 May. Currently, around 100 cross-border cases in IMI are under investigation.

The EDPB Chair Andrea Jelinek said: “Despite the sharp increase in the number of cases in the last month, the Members of the EDPB report that the workload is manageable for the moment, in large part thanks to a thorough preparation in the past two years by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party. However, we should only expect the first results of the new procedures to deal with cross-border cases in a few months from now. To handle complaints lead supervisory authorities will have to carry out investigations, observe procedural rules, and coordinate and share information with other supervisory authorities. The GDPR sets specific deadlines for each phase of the procedure. All of this takes time. During this time, complainants are entitled to be kept informed on the state of play of a case. The GDPR does not offer a quick fix in case of a complaint but we are confident the procedures detailing the way in which the authorities work together are robust and efficient.”

Brussels, 5 July 2018 - The European data protection authorities, assembled in the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), met on the 4th and 5th of July for the EDPB’s second plenary meeting. During this meeting, the European Data Protection Authorities addressed a wide range of topics.

Cooperation and constistency procedures – state of play

The EDPB discussed the consistency and the cooperation mechanisms, sharing experiences on the functioning of the One-Stop Shop mechanism, the performance of the Internal Market Information System (IMI), which serves as IT platform for exchanges on cross-border issues, the challenges the authorities are facing and the type of questions received since 25 May. Most data protection authorities reported a substantial increase of complaints received. The first cases were initiated in IMI on the 25th of May. Currently, around 30 cross-border complaints in IMI are under investigation. The EDPB Chair Andrea Jelinek said: “Despite the sharp increase in the number of cases in the last month, the Members of the EDPB report that the workload is manageable at the moment, in large part thanks to a thorough preparation of the WP29 in the past two years. The GDPR does not offer a quick fix in case of a complaint but we are confident the procedures detailing the way in which the authorities work together under the consistency mechanism are robust and efficient.”

ICANN

The EDPB adopted a letter addressed to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), providing guidance to enable ICANN to develop a GDPR-compliant model for access to personal data processed in the context of WHOIS.

The letter addresses the issues of purpose specification, collection of “full WHOIS data”, registration of legal persons, logging of access to non-public WHOIS data, data retention and codes of conduct and accreditation.

The EDPB’s predecessor, WP29, has been offering guidance to ICANN on how to bring WHOIS in compliance with European data protection law since 2003.

The EDPB expects ICANN to develop and implement a WHOIS model which will enable legitimate uses by relevant stakeholders, such as law enforcement, of personal data concerning registrants in compliance with the GDPR, without leading to an unlimited publication of those data.

PSD2 Directive

The EDPB adopted a letter addressed to Sophie in’t Veld MEP regarding the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2 Directive). In its reply to Sophie in’t Veld the EDPB sheds further light on ‘silent party data’ by Third Party Providers, the procedures with regard to giving and withdrawing consent, the Regulatory Technical Standards, the cooperation between banks and the European Commission, EDPS and WP29 and what remains to be done to close any remaining data protection gaps.

Privacy Shield

The US Ombudsperson responsible for handling national security complaints under the Privacy Shield, Ambassador Judith Garber, was invited to the plenary meeting of the EDPB for an exchange with the Board Members. The EDPB was particularly interested in the concerns addressed to the US by the EDPB’s predecessor WP29, especially the appointment of a permanent Ombudsperson, formal appointments to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), and the lack of additional information on the Ombudsperson mechanism and further declassification of the procedural rules, in particular on how the Ombudsperson interacts with the intelligence services.

The EDPB pointed out that the meeting with the Ombudsperson was interesting and collegial but did not provide a conclusive answer to these concerns and that these issues will remain on top of the agenda during the Second Annual Review (scheduled for October 2018). In addition, it calls for supplementary evidence to be given by the US authorities in order to address these concerns. Finally, the EDPB notes that the same concerns will be addressed by the European Court of Justice in cases that are already pending, and to which the EDPB offers to contribute its view, if invited by the CJEU.

The EDPB adopted a letter on behalf of the EDPB Chair addressed to Sophie in’t Veld MEP regarding the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2 Directive). In its reply to Sophie in’t Veld the EDPB sheds further light on ‘silent party data’ by Third Party Providers, the procedures with regard to giving and withdrawing consent, the Regulatory Technical Standards, the cooperation between banks and the European Commission, EDPS and WP29 and what remains to be done to close any remaining data protection gaps.

The EDPB adopted a letter on behalf of the EDPB Chair addressed to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), providing guidance to enable ICANN to develop a GDPR-compliant model for access to personal data processed in the context of WHOIS.

The letter addresses the issues of purpose specification, collection of “full WHOIS data”, registration of legal persons, logging of access to non-public WHOIS data, data retention and codes of conduct and accreditation.

The EDPB’s predecessor, WP29, has been offering guidance to ICANN on how to bring WHOIS in compliance with European data protection law since 2003.

The EDPB expects ICANN to develop and implement a WHOIS model which will enable legitimate uses by relevant stakeholders, such as law enforcement, of personal data concerning registrants in compliance with the GDPR, without leading to an unlimited publication of those data.

It has been just a month ago that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into application, the long awaited revamp of the EU’s data protection rules. Under the GDPR, the supervisory authorities of the Member States closely cooperate to ensure a consistent application of the GDPR throughout the European Union, as well as consistent protection of individuals. They assist each other and coordinate decision-making in these cross-border data protection cases. Via the so-called consistency mechanism the European Data Protection Board issues opinions and takes binding decisions to arbitrate different positions on cross border cases between national data protection authorities.

IMI (Internal Market Information System) was chosen as the IT platform to support cooperation and consistency procedures under the GDPR. IMI helps public authorities across the EU to cooperate and exchange information. The GDPR is the 13th legal area supported by the system.

IMI has been developed by the European Commission’s DG GROW and was adapted to cater for the needs of the GDPR, in close cooperation with the Secretariat of the European Data Protection Board and the national supervisory authorities.

On 25 May, the first case was initiated in IMI, and shortly afterwards the supervisory authorities started to cooperate via the system. Currently, more than 30 cross-border cases are under investigation.

14 IMI modules, 19 forms and more than 10.000 data fields were put in place to address the needs of data protection authorities and the GDPR procedures.

During its first plenary meeting, the EDPB adopted the final version of the Guidelines on derogations applicable to international transfers (art 49). The Article 29 Working Party conducted a public consultation on a draft of these guidelines. The EDPB took into consideration the replies received and integrated the appropriate changes into the adopted version.

During its first plenary meeting, the EDPB adopted a draft version of the Guidelines on certification. A public consultation is available for 6 weeks. If you are interested to contribute, please go to the “Public Consultations” section of our website or click the link bellow:

During its first plenary meeting of 25 May, the EDPB adopted a statement on the revision of the ePrivacy Regulation and its impact on the protection of individuals with regard to the privacy and confidentiality of their communications.

This statement includes a call for a swift adoption of the new ePrivacy Regulation and some suggestions on some specific issues relating to proposed amendments by the co-legislators.

The European Data Protection Board endorsed the statement of the WP29 on ICANN/WHOIS during its first plenary meeting on 25 May.

WP29 statement regarding WHOIS

“WP29 recognizes the important functions fulfilled by the WHOIS service.

WP29 has been offering guidance to ICANN on how to bring WHOIS in compliance with European data protection law since 2003 (see WP29 opinion of 2003 available here). ICANN’s GDPR compliance process appears to have been formally initiated in the course of 2017, which may be part of the reason why stakeholders are concerned over the entry into application of the GDPR on 25 May 2018.

The GDPR does not allow national supervisory authorities nor the European Data Protection Board (the WP29 will become the EDPB on 25 May 2018) to create an “enforcement moratorium” for individual data controllers. Data protection is a fundamental right of individuals, who may submit complaints to their national data protection authority whenever they consider that their rights under the GDPR have been violated.

Data protection authorities may, however, take into consideration the measures which have already been taken or which are underway when determining the appropriate regulatory response upon receiving such complaints.

As expressed also in earlier correspondence with ICANN (including this letter of December 2017 and this letter of April 2018), WP29 expects ICANN to develop and implement a WHOIS model which will enable legitimate uses by relevant stakeholders, such as law enforcement, of personal data concerning registrants in compliance with the GDPR, without leading to an unlimited publication of those data.

The WP29 recognizes the recent efforts undertaken by ICANN to ensure the compliance of the WHOIS system. The WP29 will continue to monitor ICANN’s progress closely and its members may engage further with ICANN to ensure that the legal requirements under EU data protection law are properly addressed.

On 25 May 2018, the greatly anticipated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into application and its pre-decessor Directive 95/46/EC was repealed. On that date, the Article 29 Working Party, the body bringing together the independent data protection authorities, ceased to exist and was replaced by a new body: the European Data Protection Board or EDPB.

The Board is composed of the heads of national supervisory authorities and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). The Board also includes a representative of the European Commission who, however, does not have a right to vote.

The Board’s primary role is to safeguard the consistent application of the GDPR, but it has additional competences. It advises the European Commission on, for example, the level of data protection offered by third countries. In addition, the Board promotes cooperation between the national supervisory authorities and plays a role in conciliation procedures for disputes between national supervisory authorities. In exercising its powers, the Board issues guidelines, recommendations and statements of best practice on myriad topics.

During its first plenary meeting on 25 May the Board elected its Chair and two Vice-Chairs. The EDPB Chair will lead the Board for the coming five years and will exert an important influence on data protection in Europe and beyond. The Chair’s role will be crucial for the success and effectiveness of the GDPR.

Transparency and awareness are two core principles of the Board. Therefore, following the first plenary meeting of the Board, the newly elected EDPB Chair will hold a press conference on 25 May at 12.30 in the Brussels Press Club (Rue Froissart 95, Brussels). The press conference will be broadcast in EbS: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/live.cfm?page=2

The European Data Protection Board needs to rely on an effective Secretariat to be able to effectively accomplish all the tasks it is required to carry out under the GDPR. The EDPB Secretariat is composed of legal experts, communication and IT officers and administrative staff.

This brand-new team has worked hard to make the launch of the EDPB possible. They will, without a doubt, have busy months ahead to organise the meetings of the Board and answer questions on the Board’s tasks and responsibilities.

Brussels, 25 May - Today the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) held its first plenary meeting. This new, independent EU decision-making-body with legal personality is created by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which enters into application as of today. The EDPB, which succeeds the Article 29 Working Party, brings together the EDPS (European Data Protection Supervisor) and the Member State supervisory authorities to ensure a consistent application of the GDPR throughout the European Union, as well as consistent protection of individuals. In addition, the EDPB oversees the implementation of the Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive.

Andrea Jelinek, Chair of the EDPB: “This much awaited legislation gives individuals greater control over their personal data and provides a single set of rules applicable to everyone processing the personal data of individuals in the EU. In a world where data is treated as a currency, the rights of individuals were often overlooked or even flouted. We should not lose sight of the fact that personal data are inherent to human beings. I am convinced that the GDPR gives individuals and supervisory authorities the means to effectively protect and enforce this fundamental right.

“The new data protection requirements have often been narrowed down to focus on the risk of incurring high fines, but the GDPR is much more than that. It is about putting the rights of individuals first and upgrading the EU data protection rules so that they are efficient and ready for the future. At the same time, companies doing business in Europe will benefit from the GDPR as it provides legal certainty and makes it easier to operate across the internal market. In addition, being compliant with the GDPR will contribute to the good reputation of companies. In our data-driven economy a reputation can be destroyed within a few days if people loose trust in whether a company handles their data carefully.”

Andrea Jelinek concluded by underlining the importance of cooperation to make the GDPR a success: “It is crucial that as the EDPB we unite our forces to ensure a high and consistent level of data protection for individuals, wherever in the EU they are based. We will also promote awareness of data protection rights to the public. The EDPB is a newly created body of the EU that is equipped with a new governance and coordination model and the power to adopt binding decisions. This will allow us to play our role efficiently in giving guidance on key concepts of the GDPR.”

The GDPR is a new European law that tightens control over how people and organisations use and share individuals’ personal data. It also applies to organisations outside Europe targeting EU individuals or monitoring their behaviour. The GDPR replaces the EU Data Protection Directive which dates back to 1995, when the internet was still in its early stages. It replaces a patchwork of national laws with a single EU Regulation designed to make organisations more accountable, give individuals more control over their data and aims to improve legal certainty for businesses, so as to boost innovation and the future development of the digital single market.

During its first plenary meeting the European Data Protection Board endorsed the GDPR related WP29 Guidelines(Corrigendum: In document nr 8 reference to the WP 259 has been replaced by the correct WP 244).

A new regulation and a new EU Body need to be celebrated! To do so, a cocktail reception took place on the 24th of May. Within the beautiful venue of the Bibliotheque Solvay in Brussels, Commissioner Vera Jourova, Jan Philipp Albrecht MEP, European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli and WP29 Chair Andrea Jelinek held speeches looking back at the coming into application of the GDPR and the challenges ahead. Many of those who played an active role in the negotiations of the GDPR were present and proud to see the achievement of such a long process.